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Fan View: Ghana would have reached 2010 World Cup final if they defeated Uruguay
Goal readers have had their say and popular opinion has it that the Black Stars would have defeated the Oranje in the semis
Ghana would have defeated the Netherlands in the semi-finals of the 2010 Fifa World Cup if they never lost to Uruguay, according to the majority of Goal readers.
Heading into the fixture against La Celeste staged inside Johannesburg’s Soccer City, Milovan Rajevac’s men were Africa’s only hope of reaching the semi-finals.
Sulley Muntari had given the West Africans a 1-0 lead at half-time, however, Diego Forlan levelled matters for Uruguay in the 55th minute after beating goalkeeper Richard Kingson.
Ghana were awarded a penalty towards the end of the game when Luis Suarez blocked a goal-bound Dominic Adiyiah header with his hand. Asamoah Gyan stepped up to take the ensuing kick which kissed the woodwork.
Ultimately, the Black Stars’ ambitions of reaching the last four vanished into thin air after losing 4-2 in a riveting penalty shoot-out.
On the 11th anniversary of the famed game, we asked our readers if Rajevac’s side would have defeated the Oranje in the last four if they had overcome the challenge posed by coach Oscar Tabarez and his team.
In a poll conducted on the Goal Africa Twitter handle, 57.9 percent of total votes are of the opinion that Ghana would have upstaged the Netherlands in the semi-finals if Uruguay had not stopped them.
Should that have happened, the four-time Africa Cup of Nations winners would have reached the final of the championship where they would have battled Spain for the top prize.
42.1 percent feel the West Africans would not have beaten Bert van Marwijk’s team even if they had negotiated their way past the 15-time Copa America champions.
Despite Uruguay’s victory, they finished in fourth position after losing 3-2 to Germany in the third-place play-off at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth.
They had lost 3-2 to the Netherlands in a tension-soaked semi-final. Ultimately, Spain were crowned world champions thanks to a 1-0 triumph over the Oranje at Soccer City Stadium.
With the game looking destined to be settled by a penalty shootout, Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta had the final say thanks to his 116th minute strike.
